NBA 2K17: The Good, The Bad And The Amazing

The Prelude

On September 9, 2K allows you to download “The Prelude” and get a head start on your MyCareer.

The free trial (now available) allows users to begin their college careers in an attempt to build their NBA Draft stock, ahead of the game’s release on Sept. 16.

The story starts with Kobe Bryant talking you through some of the basics of MyCareer and what it takes to become an NBA pro. During the end of the intro montage, the Black Mamba teases that if anyone outshines his career, he’ll be forced to come out of retirement.

The greatest part? The NBA 2K17 App, a free download now available on iOS and Android smart phones, allows you to sync the progress (from the trial) onto the actual game. So when you get the physical 2K17 CD and get cracking, your player is already a college pro ready for the NBA.

The developers have smartly blended elements from NBA 2K10’s “Draft Combine” with college elements from last year’s game.

There’s a change in the collegiate options for NBA2K17. Last year’s edition featured Arizona, Georgetown, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan (Wolverines), Texas, UCLA, Connecticut, Villanova and Wisconsin.

This year’s game has Arizona, Georgetown, Illinois, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State (Spartans), Oklahoma, Texas, UConn, and Wake Forest.

Unlike NBA 2K16, you don’t go through high school but jump straight into college. In “The Prelude,” you’ll play a total of five college games with interjecting storylines to boot. The objective is to try and improve your draft stock ahead of the game’s release (Dec. 16-20).

It’s important to note that you get only one shot before the trail expires.

Other notes: You can’t play more than three-minute quarters during the demo version. Also, GameInformer notes that “coaches annoyingly pull you at crunch time yet again (like in 2K16) even if you’re leading the team in scoring by a large margin.”

NBA 2K17: MyLeague

NBA 2K17 allows you to choose “League Expansion” mode in MyLeague which gives you the option of expanding the league from 30 to 36 teams.

The MyLeague mode has three options: Current NBA Teams, League Expansion and Custom League. According to Brian Mazique of Forbes.com, “Along with expansion, you can still re-brand and relocate current teams, and realign the entire league.”

The Forbes report noted that players have the option of uploading primary and secondary logos, designing uniforms and arenas. But if one doesn’t wish to endure the trouble, it’s easy to use the 10 new cities and logos that the game offers. These 10 new teams will have total audio support from the announcers, too.

The 10 teams are: The Nashville Stars, Pittsburgh Force, Kansas City Knights, Virginia Storm, Vancouver Ravens, San Diego Surf, Cincinnati Lions, Baltimore Barons, Louisville Liberty and St. Louis Sound.

While the Custom League could be fun, too, the League Expansion mode sounds more fun since the game incorporates 10 branded entities into the league at the click of a button.

And word is that the MyLeague Online just got cooler. According to Mazique, “it will now support up to 80 seasons with player progression, regression, injuries, custom draft classes, lottery, offseason drafts and a new keeper feature inspired by multi-year fantasy sports leagues.”

Play Now Online: No Limitations!

In 2K16, a player was forced to play only against other players in the same tier. You had to get through lower leagues such as Freshman, Varsity, Junior Varsity, College, Development, EuroLeague and NBA before playing against the most advanced players in the Greatest of All Time mode.

And if you lost a few successive games, you’d be relegated back to the previous league.

Unless you get to the NBA mode, it wasn’t possible to play with historic teams like the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls or the 1971-71 Los Angeles Lakers.

But 2K17 is about to change all that.

According to Brian Mazique:

"“You can customize the search to play an opponent from almost any skill level or list of accomplishments. It may result in a longer wait time for a game, but if you’re trying to build your skills or challenge the biggest and baddest, this concept should help you do that.”"

Also, Bryan Wiedey of SportingNews.com has reported that you can now play against your friends with college teams in the “Play Now Online” mode.

For example, you can play an online game in NBA 2K17 with the Kentucky Wildcats vs the 1983 Philadelphia 76ers. How awesome is that?

Live Practice is now Doin’ Work

Live Practice was one of the annoying features of NBA 2K16!

Because once your MyPlayer had maxed out all the player upgrades, you were forced to partake in Live Practice on your off days to unblock more attribute upgrades.

You needed to participate in five different sessions of Live Practice to unlock one upgrade. This forced the player to sim ahead to the points in the calendar (like the All-Star break) to get consecutive off days.

There wasn’t just the option to just simulate through games and enter Live Practice. It was imperative to play the game before the off day. That just didn’t feel right.

Many gamers had requested 2K to do away with this concept. And it seems like 2k has responded with a fun way to upgrade the attributes while still enjoying your off days.

GameInformer notes that “Visual Concepts has put more work into streamlining the off-day simulation to give you more activity options on your days off.”

Doin’ Work, which replaces Live Practice, allows your MyPlayer to scrimmage with teammates or shoot around the gym. You could also run into other players when shooting late night.

Related Story: NBA: 15 Young Players In Need Of Breakout Seasons In 2016-17

With Doin Work, also comes the meter. When the meter fills up, you’ll be able to obtain attribute upgrades. This system helps you track how far along your player is progressing.

Another feature worth talking about is the enhancement to MyCourt. You can now invite virtual friends to your MyCourt and play games together. If you do well enough, you get interviewed by Shaq & Kenny in the studio show. Pretty cool.

Chris Webber is an announcer!

This should come as music to the ears of those who enjoyed C-Webb’s commentary during the playoffs. If anything, it was a shame that we didn’t hear his commentary during the Finals, which was covered by ESPN/ABC. But the TNT announcer is quickly becoming one of the best in the business.

2K17 will introduce a new dynamic commentary system that will select announcers based on the city you’re playing in. Clark Kellogg, a regular fixture since NBA 2K8, is being replaced.

Besides Webber, Steve Smith, Brent Barry and Doris Burke will join Greg Anthony and Kevin Harlan as the primary announcers. TNT’s David Aldridge is now the sideline reporter.

According to Brian Mazique, Anthony and Harlan will be the permanent fixtures while the third announcer would change based on an arena. “Webber, Barry, Smith and Burke won’t all be on the same broadcast, a different person will be on the mic to join Anthony and Harlan each game.”

And of course, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal will continue to do the studio show. Here’s hoping it’s not as repetitive as last year’s, which would invariably have Shaq and Kenny utter the same stuff at the end of every third game.

Next: The Bad